The FBR Open... The Best Crowd in Golf??
Call it whatever you want... "The FBR Open", "The Phoenix Open", or "The Golf Tournament Played Super Bowl Weekend." But, this week's FBR Open at the TPC of Scottsdale, I believe has the best venue on the PGA Tour.
From the performances of the wave, signing happy birthday, booing players who don't go at the pin, to cheering like it is the Super Bowl for a hole-in-one, the 16th hole at the TPC of Scottsdale is the closest thing to Caddyshack 2's "Hockey" or "Pinwheel" holes or the 18th hole at the Player's Championship in Happy Gilmore. Imagine 10,000+ people drinking since they opened the gates and getting ready to hit your tee shot at 3pm. A calm hush goes over the crowd while you approach your ball, grip, re-grip (or many more if you're sergio), you take the club back and "whack"... The 10,000+ fans in a frenzy begin to scream hoping for that elusive hole-in-one, yet you miss the green in the bunker, and they begin to boo and yell to the guy 40 feet away how they could do better...
I watched a story on the Golf Channel tonight and they described the hole as anything from "intense" to "crazy" to "hostile"... Honestly, I love to watch this tournament and I hope that there are many great shots and the occasional bad shot that gets plenty of jeers...
But, is this good for golf? I think it is... It brings the "Super Bowl" excitement to a pretty amazing tournament.
5 Comments:
Kudos for referencing Caddyshack 2 (often overlooked depsite the stellar performance of Randy Quaid as the crazy lawyer of nuevo-riche Jack Hartoonian--the early 90s version of the great Al Czervik).
Yes, indeed, it's pretty rowdy at the TPC. Tiger electrified the patrons with a hole in one on the 16th in 1997, back when he was 21. Pretty fantastic.
I'm not sure I agree that this is the best venue in golf. Sure, it's curious, but it's not a great venue...in fact, I've played it and it's really a very pedestrian, uninspired and frankly, easy track. I make no claims of being a purist, and I really would like to see a bit more responsiveness from the American fans, but I think that for the most part these fans are being loud and crazy for somethign having very little to do with golf and a lot more to do with just being drunk. So, really, to me, it's still not addressing what's missing in American golf fans.
I have to say that the best venue in golf, not necessarily on the PGA Tour, is the 18th hole at the British Open each year when the ropes are dropped and the gallery is allowed to mob the 18th fairway when the final group walks to the green.
Oldbattler may be a heck of a golfer, but I have a few comments about the TPC, having played it a couple of times last May. It should be noted that I was playing it at the same time that the Club Pro qualifying tournament was going on (I think it gets you in the PGA Championship).
I played from the tips, am a 3-5 handicap depending on the time of the year, played pretty well, and was lucky to shoot 81.
The greens were hard and fast...have been every time I've played it. Hitting poor drives don't hurt you that bad, but I found the pins tucked tight at the front of greens virtually impossible to get near.
I will be shocked to see them tear up the course if it hasn't been raining or overwatered, but I'm usually wrong.
Great tournament to go to if you are young, single, and want to watch fun golf and good looking girls.
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